Foregrounding the voices of female graduates collected through more than 70 oral history interviews, this book tells the story of working-class girls in British higher education between 1960 and 1985. Reflecting on this distinct minority of the student body of the period, Honor Morris explores how and why the few that did reach university were able to succeed, charting their route from secondary school age teenagers through to graduates. Morris reveals that while supportive parents, inspiring teachers, considerable ambition and above average academic ability were the foundations of working-class female graduate success, the path to and through university was not without issue; class continued to create obstacles as these women navigated their way through the new and unfamiliar landscape of higher education.

Working-Class Girls in British Higher Education, 1960-1985 convincingly argues that, despite potential difficulties, the journey taken by these women ultimately broadened the scope of what working-class girls could hope to achieve. It afforded them the increased span of opportunity, but also crucially exposed them to influences that challenged conventional cultural ideas of female identity. Moving into and through higher education facilitated a departure from paradigm concepts of working-class womanhood, based on the archetype of the housewife. The book successfully contends that this vitally enabled working-class girls to take advantage of the cultural capital available to them as graduates, shaping their social and cultural trajectory as graduates in the process.